This two-volume collection of eclectic essays on Kolkata seeks to explore areas not covered in the earlier works on the city, in terms of both topics and time. Contributors from India, Germany and beyond have used both academic research and lived experiences to reveal the dynamic process of Kolkata’s urbanity rooted in its colonial history and constantly reshaped by its politics, economy and changing socio cultural norms. The first section of Volume 1 indicates how the city has negotiated space from its formative years right up to the crucial juncture it seems to have reached recently as a result of the drastic shift towards mega-urbanity.